A visually rich, thematically unique, but ultimately flawed piece of work

Rating: Null/10 (27 March 2008)

Although no one would argue that the plot here isn't completely original, the actual film is still incredibly flawed, even to the extent that by the time film reaches the halfway mark the story had become dull and the pacing laborious. Clearly, Tim Roth is a fine actor who has impressed in the likes Made in Britain (1980), Reservoir Dogs (1991) and Pulp Fiction (1994), and it is to his credit somewhat that the film survives as long as it does, but I have to honestly admit that the best parts of the film are the earlier sequences that revolve around the child version of Novecento (the character that Roth plays), who's wide-eyed sense of wonder and mystique leads him up into the ship and to the grand piano so central to the plot.
Alongside the interesting plot and unconventional character there are some fine performances from the supporting cast, as well as some particularly strong emotional themes, such as the ideas of loneliness and the class divide, but for me, the film really struggled to keep itself going with the short scope of the running time or the rushed, unfinished feeling found in many of the individual scenes. Admittedly, I have not seen any other Tornatore films, despite the amount of critical praise that his Cinema Pardiso (1988) has been given, but it seems that with this film he's either compromised his vision in order to appeal to a more mainstream American audience or simply, I've seen some horribly truncated, studio re-cut (which could be the case, as it would seem that Tornatore has been badly treated by US/UK distributors in the past, who insist on cutting his films down to more easily digestible running times). If this is the case, then I sincerely apologise, but even so; I'm not sure I can imagine a film of this scope working at anything less than a suitably epic four-hour running time, akin to something like Bernardo Bertolucci's similarly set historical piece, 1900 (1976).
As you could expect, the cinematography throughout is impeccably beautiful, employing haunting shots of the ocean liner drifting out of the fog like a ghost to create an entirely alien world reminiscent of Fellini's great work And the Ships Sails On (1982). The production design is also remarkable, and the attention to detail that Tornatore and his crew have put into the film is second to none, but for me, the film just failed to maintain that sense of momentum over such a short duration. The Legend of 1900 (1998) is still an interesting, remarkable beautiful looking film, but one that I feel fails to deliver on its epic potential. It is elevated somewhat by the aforementioned photography, the haunting score from Enio Moerricone and the commendable performances from Roth, Bill Nunn and the underrated Pruitt Taylor Vince.